Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Lies about terror The whole terror alert system is a charade, designed to make the adminsitration look like it is less helpless than it is.  Meanwhile, the true needs for intelligence reform and security are overlooked.  According to Reuters today The city now has 4,000 fewer police officers than it had on Sept. 11, 2001, when planes hijacked by al Qaeda destroyed the World Trade Center, killing almost 2,800 people. New York, with 8 million people, secured only $5.47 per head in homeland security grants in 2004 -- the second lowest in the nation -- compared to $38.31 per person in Wyoming. Meanwhile, the Washington Post writes pious editorials saying "don't politicize the war on terror" and vilifying Howard Dean for speaking the truth-- these threats are politically motivated.   Here is what I wrote to Fred Hiatt. Please add your own comments and email him at fredhiatt@washpost.com "In making his announcement, Ridge said " the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror", So, please don't say it is just Howard Dean who is politicizing these warnings. Why was it that of all the major newspapers, only the Wall St. Journal got it right from the start that this warning was based on information that was primarily 3 or 4 years old. Don't you think, when releasing information that is 3 or 4 years old, and calling it an imminent threat, that reporters have a responsibility to ask why that information was not part of the initial terror briefing. A worker at one of the targeted buildings would have a completely different reaction if they knew this was 4 year old data. Today, many security officials are backpedaling." 12:28:46 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2004 Toby Sackton. Last update: 9/21/2004; 12:56:03 AM.